


like the sugar in my coffee or the flour on your cheek (it's all the little things)

by soshedances



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Coffee Shop & Bakery AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25981930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soshedances/pseuds/soshedances
Summary: In which Scott knows a lot about coffee, Tessa knows a thing or two about pastry, and they both learn a little about love, luck, and the importance of timing...
Relationships: Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir/Tessa Virtue
Comments: 28
Kudos: 42





	like the sugar in my coffee or the flour on your cheek (it's all the little things)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MsDaffodil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsDaffodil/gifts).



> Thank you for being my quasi-business partner, biggest cheerleader and the smarter half of my brain. Happy Friendiversary! Here’s to another 13 years, and 33 more after that...

She blows into his shop on a Tuesday morning.

It’s his first day working the front of house alone and they’ve been open for less than five minutes when the bell above the door clangs to let him know there’s a new customer in the café.

A cold gust of wind rips through the shop, followed by a sheet of rain heralding the entrance of a very frazzled looking figure under the cover of an umbrella, which appears to have been mostly blown inside out. Just as quickly as it arrived, the wind is sucked back out, pulling the door closed behind it.

“Shit!”

What’s left of the woman’s umbrella is caught in the door frame, causing the bell to repeatedly jangle as she struggles against the stormy weather to remove it. He’s halfway around the counter, ready to offer his help when nature relents and the offending object springs free, taking out a potted fern by the door in the process.

“Double shit! Sorry Charlie! I’ll replace the—”

The woman turns to face him. He’s stunned for a moment by the gorgeous shade of green that greets him when she makes eye contact, until he sees what little colour was left immediately drain from her face.

“Oh. You’re not Charlie…”

“Nope.” He resists the urge to laugh, not wanting to make light of her concern. Instead he introduces himself, offering what he hopes is a friendly smile as he maintains eye contact. “I’m Scott. The other Moir brother. The third bouncing bean if you will.”

Scott gestures to the wall beside them, the _Three Bouncing Beans Coffee Company_ logo proudly displayed alongside a photo of the Moir brothers taken at the opening of the cafe a few years ago. He watches as the woman’s eyes flick from him to the photo and back, the tension in her shoulders releasing just a fraction as her face relaxes into a polite smile.

“Right! It’s nice to finally meet you! I’m Tess.” She starts to extend her hand for him to shake, but then seems to change her mind. She gives a sort of half-wave instead, before nervously tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry about the profanity. And the fern! Please let me replace the fern!”

She glances back at the entryway, clearly anxious to make things right, but he’s not sure there’s much of a problem.

“I don’t know that it needs replacing.” Scott moves to inspect the toppled plant, easily righting it and placing it further away from the door, just in case. “I think it will live! Just a little lost dirt, nothing a quick vacuum can’t fix. We might need to be more concerned about your umbrella though.”

Tess huffs out a sigh in response as she collects the item in question from where it had been discarded on the floor.

“Oh this piece of trash is useless when it comes to any form of wind. I should’ve known better than to even try!”

She manages to flip the umbrella right side up, where it stays for no more than three seconds before springing back on itself.

“See? Not worth saving.” With a graceful twirl and a flourish of the wrist, she promptly deposits it into the garbage bin. “Ta da! Finally where it belongs.”

Scott can’t help but chuckle as he gently applauds her efforts. She blushes, almost as if she forgot he was watching, but offers a small bob of a curtsey as he returns to his position behind the counter.

“Now that that’s been taken care of, what can I get you? As you were expecting Charlie, I’m guessing you’re here pretty often…”

He trails off, not wanting to overstep by making any further assumptions. Tess rewards him with a light laugh and a soft smile in return.

“Something like that, although if you’re hoping I have a regular order for you to memorize then you’re out of luck. I change my mind fairly often.”

“Darn, my plan has been foiled! What’ll it be today then?”

She pauses and ponders the board behind him for a moment.

“I’ll have an almond milk cappuccino to go, please.”

“One almond milk cappuccino it is!”

Scott lets himself settle into the familiar process, tamping the grounds and pouring out the almond milk in preparation for steaming. He can hear the rhythmic tapping of fingernails on a phone screen in the background as the dull hum of the espresso machine fills the café. He foolishly wasn’t expecting any customers before 7:30AM and he finds himself making a note to pull up a playlist for company once she leaves.

His train of thought is interrupted when Tess approaches the counter once again, an apologetic look on her face.

“Sorry, could I get a large black coffee as well?” She glances down at her phone. “The Sunbeam blend please. If you have it?”

He takes extra care with the rosette as he pours out her cappuccino, trying to multitask as he responds. “Absolutely Tess. Do you have time for me to do a pour over? I find it’s the best brew method for the Sunbeam.”

“Sure.” She tucks her phone back into her purse. “Thank you.”

Tess accepts her drink from him, admiring the art for a moment before taking a sip. She exhales a sigh of what he hopes is contentment and wraps both hands around the paper cup.

“This is delicious. Exactly what I needed on a stormy day like today. Thank you, Scott.”

“There’s something about a hot drink that hits differently when the weather is bad, isn’t there? It’s like it’s warming you up from the inside out.”

“Yes! There’s nothing else quite like it, almost as though it warms a little piece of your soul as well...”

The conversation falls to the wayside as the noise of the grinder takes over. Scott quickly sets up the pour over, before moving to meet Tess at the register. By the time she’s paid, the coffee is ready to go and so is she.

“Thank you Scott. For the excellent coffee and for putting up with my mess. I’m glad to have finally met you.”

She gives him what he thinks is the first full smile he’s seen since she stumbled into the café. It’s blinding in comparison and makes her eyes light up in a shimmering shade of jade that he finds himself drawn to. His face mirrors the same joy back at her with very little effort.

“I’m sorry I disappointed you by not being Charlie, but it was nice to meet you too, Tess. Enjoy the rest of your day!”

She makes it halfway to the door before she pivots and turns back to the counter, a frown now on her face.

“Sorry, could I get a tray? I just realise that opening doors is going to be tricky while carrying two cups at once, even without the wind factor.”

Scott quickly pulls a tray out from under the counter and nestles her cups into the cradles diagonally across from each other, knowing it will be easier to balance that way.

“Thanks!”

She makes it halfway to the door again before he interrupts her exit.

“Wait! Tess! What are you planning to do without your umbrella? It’s still raining pretty hard out there.”

She shrugs. “It’s just water. There are worse things in life than getting wet.”

“That may be true for you, but that tray is cardboard and those cups are only waterproof on the inside. Let me get you a spare umbrella from the back!”

He disappears before she can protest, making a beeline for the staff coat closet next to the office. He frowns when he sees the bucket of spare umbrellas is empty (they usually keep a few on hand for running errands), then pulls his own from the side of his backpack without any hesitation.

Thankfully she’s still the only customer in the café when he emerges, slipping around the end of the counter to pass her the collapsible umbrella.

“Really Scott, you didn’t have to!”

“I didn’t brew you the perfect cup of handpicked, small batch, naturally sun-dried Brazilian coffee only to have it muddled by the addition of rain water!” He raises an eyebrow in mock disapproval as she takes the umbrella.

“So it’s the coffee you’re really concerned about here. I see it how it is.” She winks at him as she opens the snap keeping the umbrella contained and turns towards the door. “I’ll bring it back tomorrow, thanks!”

The door flies open and she disappears into the wind and rain before he has a chance to further respond. Of course he cares about her staying dry more than he cares about the coffee.

Wait, what?

A blast of frigid air jolts him back to reality as the door slams shut and the spilled dirt from the fern swirls at his feet.

He gave a customer, a woman he just met, a practical stranger, his personal umbrella. On the stormiest day of the year. He’d practically insisted that she take it all because what? She had a charming smile and enchanting green eyes? Get it together Scott!

He lets out a groan and scrubs at his face, trying to clear his thoughts so he can deal with the day ahead. A quick glance at the oversized clock on the wall tells him that it’s been less than 20 minutes since Tess came into the café, but that leaves a rapidly closing window of time before their more regular customers can be expected to start arriving.

He quickly sweeps the remaining dirt from the floor, deems vacuuming unnecessary, resets the pour over station and powers up one of Charlie’s carefully curated playlists. Not long after, the doorbell clangs once more and a steady stream of customers keep him occupied until Danny arrives to relieve him at noon.

Scott spends the rest of the day tucked away in the back office, only poking his head out when summoned by one of his brothers. He feels like he’s trying to play catch up on years worth of knowledge about the day to day running of the café, which in a way, he supposes that he is.

The idea of co-owning a company with his brothers had started as a joke, the result of them each working part-time jobs for different coffee shops as teenagers. It became less of a joke and more of a “what if” by the time Scott entered university, the realization that their combined knowledge and experience might allow them to create something unique in the London coffee scene becoming more and more tempting. When he graduated, they pooled their collective savings and Three Bouncing Beans Coffee Company was born.

Scott had stuck around long enough to make sure everything was running smoothly, but he’d found himself yearning to learn more. There was something about the complexity, the process of transformation and untold possibilities of what you could do with a tiny piece of fruit that captured his imagination. With Charlie and Danny’s blessing, he’d embarked on what turned out to be a multi-year adventure that had taken him around the world. It had allowed him not only to hone his skills as barista, but to visit with producers in varying countries, work his way through the supply chain and to learn first hand about the number of ways that coffee could be processed and brewed.

This was what had eventually drawn him home to Canada, first to Montréal and then back to the café in London. With the success that Three Bouncing Beans had experienced, they were now ready to put Scott’s knowledge to good use by expanding to roast their own coffee. They had recently purchased and renovated a second property out in Ilderton, all that was left was to start sourcing their beans.

Which is how Scott finds himself not only trying to learn the daily routine and the names of their regular customers, but also spending hours in the office exchanging phone calls and emails with contacts he’s made in Brazil, Costa Rica and Ethiopia. Add juggling time zones into the mix and before he knows it, he blinks and it’s 7pm. He stretches in his chair, joints creaking with disuse as he seeks out his brothers to see if there’s anything he can do to help with closing.

He’s pleasantly surprised when he emerges from the office and discovers that the torrential rainstorm has ceased. He’s even more surprised though, when Charlie smacks him on the shoulder with his umbrella.

“T dropped this off for you.” He fixes Scott with a questioning stare. “Said you lent it to her this morning to, quote, “keep her coffee from getting wet.” Really Scotty?”

“Don’t call me that, you know I hate it.” Scott grumbles at the use of his least favourite nickname before he protests. “And it’s true! Her umbrella was broken and I didn’t want her, or her tray of drinks, to have to suffer without one.”

“How very chivalrous of you, but please, try not to flirt with every attractive woman who comes into the café. We’ve managed just fine so far without your charms and we happen to quite like Tess. It would be bad for business if you scared her away.”

Charlie ruffles his hair, another thing that he knows annoys Scott, then ducks through the kitchen doors before he can retaliate.

Sighing, Scott looks down at the umbrella in his hand. He honestly wasn’t trying to flirt with Tess, he was just being friendly! He’s also not sure what Charlie meant when he said scaring her away would be bad for business… Can one customer really be responsible for purchasing that much coffee?

Scott brushes the thought aside and swallows down the sliver of disappointment he feels over not seeing Tess again when she returned the umbrella. He heads for the closet, grabbing his jacket and slipping his backpack over one shoulder, ready to leave for the night.

When he goes to slide the umbrella into its pocket, a small piece of paper catches his eye as it flutters to the ground. He picks it up.

_Thanks for the umbrella. The coffee appreciated it ;) (and so did I)_  
_Hope to see you again soon,_  
_T_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!
> 
> I'll see you in a few... weeks? months? It'll be a surprise for us all! Until then, you can find me on your preferred social media platform as SoSheDances18.


End file.
